United States v. Charles William Kunzman

54 F.3d 1522, 42 Fed. R. Serv. 115, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 9591, 1995 WL 246333
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedApril 26, 1995
Docket94-1084
StatusPublished
Cited by133 cases

This text of 54 F.3d 1522 (United States v. Charles William Kunzman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Charles William Kunzman, 54 F.3d 1522, 42 Fed. R. Serv. 115, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 9591, 1995 WL 246333 (10th Cir. 1995).

Opinion

ALARCÓN, Senior Circuit Judge.

Charles William Kunzman appeals from a judgment of conviction following a trial by jury. Kunzman seeks reversal of the conviction on multiple grounds. In the alternative, he seeks remand of the case for resentencing on the ground that the district court’s order requiring him to pay $331,756.09 in restitution constitutes an abuse of discretion.

Kunzman was charged along with his wife, Murleen Kay Kunzman (Kay Kunzman), and his stepson, Randall Lee Meyers (Randy Meyers), in multiple counts with fraud and money laundering stemming from a real estate investment scheme. The defendants established K & K Mortgage Company and began offering limited partnership investments in Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits (REMICs) in October, 1987. Rather than investing REMIC monies in mortgages secured by real estate, the monies were used by the Kunzmans to pay personal and business expenses. The defendants conducted a Ponzi scheme, in which money from later investors was used to pay monthly interest and principal payments to earlier investors. The scheme eventually collapsed and the Kunzmans filed bankruptcy on July 10, 1990. Kay Kunzman and Randy Meyers pled guilty prior to trial. The jury convicted Kunzman of 22 counts of securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and bank fraud.

We affirm the conviction because we conclude that none of Kunzman’s grounds for reversal are meritorious. We also affirm the district court’s restitution order because we find no abuse of discretion.

*1526 I. PRETRIAL MOTIONS

A. Motion for Bill of Particulars

Kunzman joined in his co-defendants’ pretrial motions for bills of particulars as to each securities fraud count. In addition, he submitted his own motion for a bill of particulars requesting additional specificity as to the money laundering and bank fraud counts in which he was named. The district court denied the motions for bills of particulars.

Kunzman contends that the district court erred in denying his motion for a bill of particulars because the second superseding indictment did not specify sufficiently the acts allegedly performed by him. He argues that this lack of specificity hindered his ability to prepare his defense as well as his ability to limit the evidence admitted at trial.

We review a district court’s denial of a motion for a bill of particulars for abuse of discretion. United States v. Dunn, 841 F.2d 1026, 1029 (10th Cir.1988). “The purpose of a bill of particulars is to inform the defendant of the charge against him with sufficient precision to allow him to prepare his de-fense_” United States v. Levine, 983 F.2d 165, 166-67 (10th Cir.1992). The denial of a motion for a bill of particulars “will not be disturbed unless the defendant shows ‘that he was actually surprised at trial and thereby incurred prejudice to his substantial rights.’ ” Id. at 166 (citations omitted).

The second superseding indictment described the defendants’ scheme in detail and provided dates, places and the persons involved in various transactions. Kunzman does not dispute that he was provided with full discovery of the government’s materials prior to trial. This was sufficient to inform Kunzman of the charges against him and to enable him to prepare his defense. See id. at 167 (no abuse of discretion where indictment described scheme in detail and set forth instances of mail fraud and defendant had access to government’s file prior to trial). Moreover, Kunzman has not demonstrated, or even argued, that he was actually surprised at trial and therefore incurred prejudice to his substantial rights. See United States v. Sturmoski, 971 F.2d 452, 460 (10th Cir.1992) (court affirmed denial of motion for bill of particulars where government provided full disclosure and defendant failed to show actual surprise at trial). Accordingly, we find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Kunzman’s motion for a bill of particulars.

B. Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Interstate Nexus and Jurisdiction

Prior to trial, Kunzman moved to dismiss the money laundering and securities fraud counts of the indictment as insufficient on the ground that the government failed to allege sufficiently an effect on interstate commerce. 1 Kunzman contends that the district court erred in denying the pretrial motion to dismiss.

The sufficiency of an indictment is a question of law which we review de novo. United States v. Brady, 13 F.3d 334, 338 (10th Cir.1993). An indictment is sufficient if it contains the elements of the offense and apprises the defendant of the charges he must meet. Id. at 337. Counts 19 and 26 allege that securities fraud was accomplished “by the use of the means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce.” Count 22 alleges that Kunzman “... did knowingly ... conduct ... a financial transaction affecting interstate commerce” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956. Counts 15, 27 and 32 allege that Kunzman “... did knowingly engage ... in a monetary transaction, affecting interstate and foreign commerce ...” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957. The indictment also specifically alleges an effect on interstate commerce through the use of interstate highways, the use of telephone and mails, and transactions involving banks and financial institutions engaged in interstate commerce. This is sufficient to allege an effect on interstate commerce.

Kunzman also contends that the district court should have granted his Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal on these counts because the evidence at trial was insufficient to establish the required interstate nexus. Although Kunzman did not argue *1527 this point before the district court, we address the merits of this contention because an interstate nexus is essential to confer jurisdiction. See United States v. Kelley, 929 F.2d 582, 586 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 926, 112 S.Ct. 341, 116 L.Ed.2d 280 (1991) (requirement under section 1957 that the transaction be “in or affecting interstate commerce” must be met.to confer jurisdiction on federal courts); Kerbs v. Fall River Indus., Inc., 502 F.2d 731, 737 (10th Cir.1974) (interstate nexus is required to confer subject matter jurisdiction over securities fraud actions).

1. Money Laundering Counts

a. Jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
54 F.3d 1522, 42 Fed. R. Serv. 115, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 9591, 1995 WL 246333, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-charles-william-kunzman-ca10-1995.